* I: Opening words – Second Samuel 7:12-14 is the unveiling of a prophecy through typology

1. God’s promise to David: Christ’s being the seed of David would be designated to be the firstborn Son of God in resurrection

“I will raise up your seed after you…I will be his Father, and he will be My son”—2 Sam. 7:12a, 14a:

1. Your seed here refers, literally, to Solomon, David’s son—1 Kings 5:5; 8:15-20.
2. According to Hebrews 1:5b, which quotes 2 Samuel 7:14a, David’s seed is actually Christ as God’s firstborn Son, who has both divinity and humanity—Heb. 1:5a, 6.
3. Your seed in 2 Samuel 7:12a and My son in verse 14a imply that the seed of David would become the Son of God, that is, that a human seed would become a divine Son—Rom. 1:3-4.

[2 Sam 7:12a] When your days are fulfilled and you sleep with your fathers, I will raise up your seed after you。

[2 Sam 7:14a] I will be his Father, and he will be My son.

4. This word concerning the seed of David becoming the Son of God is continued and developed strongly in the New Testament—Matt. 22:41-45; Rev. 22:16.

* II – III: The Lord revealed that he has both divinity and humanity

2. In Matthew 22:41-45 the Lord Jesus asked the greatest question in the universe: “What do you think concerning the Christ? Whose son is He?”—Matt 22:42a:
1. The Pharisees said that the Christ was David’s son, and the Lord asked them how David could call the Christ Lord when the Christ was his son—Matt. 22:43-45:
2. Christ’s divinity and humanity can be known by us only in our spirit through God’s revelation—Matt. 22:43; Eph. 3:5.
3. Christ is God; in His divinity He is the Lord of David—Matt. 22:43.
4. Christ is also a man; in His humanity He is the son of David—Matt. 22:42, 45.
3. In Revelation 22:16 the Lord Jesus said, “I am the Root and the Offspring of David”
1. In His divinity, Christ is the Root, the source, of David; in His humanity, Christ is the Offspring, the issue, of David.
2. Christ is the Lord as the Root of David, and He is also the son, the shoot, of David as the Offspring of David; just as the Offspring of David denotes that the Lord is man and that He came out of David, so also the Root of David denotes that He is God and that David came out of Him.
3. In Revelation 22:16 Christ Himself acknowledged that He is man as well as God, that He has both the human nature and the divine nature—Rev. 22:16.

Hymns: 741

Message 8: The Seed of David Becoming the Son of God

2021 DST 8e

Message 8 (Cont. 1)

* IV – V: The only begotten Son of God was born to be the firstborn Son of God

4. In resurrection, the only begotten Son of God was born to be the firstborn Son of God, which fulfilled the promise to David

In Acts 13 Paul said that from David’s seed “God, according to promise, brought to Israel a Savior, Jesus” (v. 23), and that “God has fully fulfilled this promise…in raising up Jesus, as it is also written in the second Psalm, ‘You are My Son; this day have I begotten You’”—Acts 13:23, 33:

1. In verses 23 and 33 we see that Christ as the Firstborn of God was promised to the fathers, and God fulfilled this promise by raising up Jesus.
2. Resurrection was a birth to the man Jesus:
1. He was begotten by God in His resurrection to be the firstborn Son of God among many brothers—Rom. 8:29.
2. He was the only begotten Son of God from eternity—John 1:18, 3:16.
3. After His incarnation, through resurrection He was begotten by God in His humanity to be God’s firstborn Son—Heb. 1:6.
3. Paul was able to see the Lord’s resurrection in Psalm 2:7: “You are My Son; / Today I have begotten You”:
1. Paul applied the word today to the day of the Lord’s resurrection.
2. This means that Christ’s resurrection was His birth as the firstborn Son of God.
3. Jesus, the Son of Man, was born to be the Son of God through being raised up from the dead; therefore, God’s raising up Jesus from the dead was His begetting of Him to be His firstborn Son—Acts 13:33.
4. God’s firstborn Son has both the human nature as well as the divine nature—John 1:14, 18; Luke 1:35; Acts 13:33; Heb. 1:6; Rom. 8:29:

Through incarnation God’s only begotten Son put on humanity and became the God-man; then in resurrection this God-man was born of God to be His Firstborn:

• Before incarnation God’s only begotten Son did not have the human nature; He had only the divine nature.
• In resurrection God’s firstborn Son has the human nature as well as the divine nature.
• Through His resurrection Christ was born to be the firstborn Son, and at the same time all His believers were born to be the many sons of God�—1 Pet. 1:3; Heb. 2:10:
• Among these many sons, only the Firstborn is God’s only begotten Son—John 1:18; 1 John 4:9.
• This only begotten Son of God, in His resurrected humanity, is also the firstborn Son of God—Rom. 8:29.
• The Firstborn has both divinity and humanity, and we, His believers as God’s many sons, also possess both the human nature and the divine nature—2 Pet. 1:4.

2021 DST 8e

The firstborn Son of God

Many sons of God

Message 8 (Cont. 2)

5. We need to know Christ in His resurrection designated as the Son of God in power with His human nature—Rom. 1:3-4:
1. Before His incarnation and resurrection, Christ was the Son of God, the only begotten Son, has the divine nature—John 1:18; 3:16.
2. Although Christ already was the Son of God before the incarnation, He still needed to be designated the Son of God out of resurrection because by incarnation He had put on the human nature, which had nothing to do with divinity—John 1:1, 14; Rom. 8:3:
1. After the Son of God became incarnate, His divine nature was concealed by the flesh.
2. Christ was already the Son of God in His divinity, but the part of Him that was Jesus with the human nature, born of Mary, was not the Son of God—Luke 1:31-32, 35.
3. By His resurrection Christ sanctified and uplifted His human nature, His humanity, and He was designated out of resurrection as the Son of God with this human nature; in this sense He was begotten the Son of God in His resurrection—Rom. 1:3-4; Acts 13:33; Heb. 1:5.
4. This designation of the Son of God was “in power,” the power of Christ’s resurrection, the reality of which is the Spirit—Phil. 3:10; Eph. 1:19-20.
3. Through designation in resurrection the Christ who was already the Son of God before His incarnation became the Son of God in a new way—Rom. 1:4:
1. Before His incarnation He was the Son of God only with divinity; through His resurrection He was designated the Son of God with both divinity and humanity.
2. If Christ had not put on human nature, there would have been no need for Him to be designated the Son of God, for in His divinity He was already the Son of God, even from eternity—John 1:18; 17:5.
3. Having put on humanity through incarnation, He was designated the Son of God with humanity in resurrection—John 1:14; Rom. 8:3; 1:3-4; Heb. 2:14:
1. As the designated Son of God, Christ has two natures, divinity and humanity; the humanity that He now has is not a natural humanity but a humanity uplifted in resurrection—Rom. 1:4.
2. Even Christ’s human nature has been designated the Son of God, for He has been designated the Son of God with both divinity and humanity.
4. The designation of Christ as the Son of God with humanity was “according to the Spirit of holiness”—Rom. 1:4:
1. The Spirit of holiness is the life essence within the Lord Jesus; when He lived on earth in the flesh, He had this essence within Him—Matt. 1:18, 20; Luke 1:35.
2. When the Lord Jesus was resurrected from among the dead, He was designated the Son of God in power by resurrection according to the Spirit of holiness that was in Him—Rom. 1:4.
3. Now He is the Son of God in a way that is more wonderful than before, for now He has both the divine nature and the resurrected, transformed, uplifted, glorified, and designated human nature—Rom. 6:4; Luke 24:26; John 17:5; Acts 3:13.
5. After His designation, the firstborn Son of God (prototype) has produced many sons of God (reproduction) through His Life dispensation—1 Pet. 1:3; Heb. 2:10:

We need to connect Romans 1:3-4 and 8:29:

• Through His incarnation, crucifixion, and resurrection, Christ, the Son of God, became the firstborn Son, and the many sons, who are the brothers of Christ, are being conformed to His image—Heb. 2:10-11; Rom. 8:29.
• In Romans 1:3-4 Christ, the Son of God, is the prototype, whereas in 8:29 the many brothers are those who have been “mass-produced” from the prototype and, by being saved in life, will be conformed to the image of the firstborn Son.
• This brings us to the matter of deification and implies that God’s intention in His economy is to make Himself man so that, in Christ, we, the believers in Christ and children of God, may become God in life, in nature, and in constitution (but not in the Godhead); such an implication is exceedingly great, and eventually, the Bible consummates with this matter—Rom. 8:29; 1:3-4; 1 John 3:1; Rev. 21:2, 10-11.

2021 DST 8e

The firstborn Son of God

The only begotten Son of God

Many sons of God

* I: Opening words – Second Samuel 7:12-14 is the unveiling of a prophecy through typology

1. God’s promise to David: Christ’s being the seed of David would be designated to be the firstborn Son of God in resurrection

[2 Sam. 7:12] … I will raise up your seed after you, which will come forth from your body… [2 Sam. 7:14] I will be his Father, and he will be My son…

• Your seed here refers, literally, to Solomon, David’s son; David’s seed is actually Christ as God’s firstborn Son, who has both divinity and humanity.

[Heb 1:5b] … And again, "I will be a Father to Him, and He will be a Son to Me"? [Heb 1:6] And when He brings again the Firstborn into the inhabited earth, …

• Your seed in 2 Samuel 7:12a and My son in verse 14a imply that the seed of David would become the Son of God, that is, that a human seed would become a divine Son; this word concerning the seed of David becoming the Son of God is continued and developed strongly in the New Testament.

* II – III: The Lord revealed he has both divinity and humanity

2. In Matthew 22:41-45 the Lord Jesus asked the greatest question in the universe: “What do you think concerning the Christ? Whose son is He?”
1. The Lord Jesus asked: how David could call the Christ Lord when the Christ was his son?
2. Christ’s divinity and humanity can be known by us only in our spirit through God’s revelation.
3. Christ is God; in His divinity He is the Lord of David; Christ is also a man; in His humanity He is the son of David.
3. In Revelation 22:16 the Lord Jesus said, “I am the Root and the Offspring of David”

[Rev. 22:16] I Jesus…am the Root and the Offspring of David,…

• In His divinity, Christ is the Root, the source, of David; in His humanity, Christ is the Offspring, the issue, of David.
• The Offspring of David denotes that the Lord is man and that He came out of David, so also the Root of David denotes that He is God
• Christ is man as well as God; He has both the human nature and the divine nature.

* IV – V: The only begotten Son of God was born to be the firstborn Son of God

4. In resurrection, the only begotten Son of God was born to be the firstborn Son of God, which fulfilled the promise to David

[Acts 13:33] …God has fully fulfilled this promise to us their children in raising up Jesus, as it is also written in the second Psalm, “You are My Son; this day have I begotten You.”

• God fulfilled the promise of Christ being the Firstborn of God by raising up Jesus; resurrection was a birth to the man Jesus.
• Paul applied the word today in Psalm 2:7 to the day of the Lord’s resurrection; this means that Christ’s resurrection was His birth as the firstborn Son of God.
• God’s firstborn Son has both the human nature as well as the divine nature
• Before incarnation God’s only begotten Son did not have the human nature; He had only the divine nature; in resurrection God’s firstborn Son has the human nature as well as the divine nature.

[John 1:14] And the Word became flesh and tabernacled among us (and we beheld His glory, glory as of the only Begotten from the Father)…

• Through His resurrection Christ was born to be the firstborn Son, and at the same time all His believers were born to be the many sons of God.
• We need to know Christ in His resurrection designated as the Son of God in power with His human nature

[Rom.1:3-4] Concerning His Son, who came out of the seed of David according to the flesh, who was designated the Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness out of the resurrection of the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord.

• Before His incarnation and resurrection, Christ was the only begotten Son, has the divine nature.
• Although Christ already was the Son of God before the incarnation, He still needed to be designated the Son of God out of resurrection because by incarnation He had put on the human nature, which had nothing to do with divinity.
• Through designation in resurrection the Christ who was already the Son of God before His incarnation became the Son of God in a new way.
• The designation of Christ as the Son of God with sanctified and uplifted humanity was “according to the Spirit of holiness”.
• After His designation, the firstborn Son of God (prototype) has produced many sons of God (reproduction) through his life dispensation.
• This brings us to the matter of deification and implies that God’s intention in His economy is to make Himself man so that, in Christ, we, the believers in Christ and children of God, may become God in life, in nature, and in constitution (but not in the Godhead).

[1 Pet. 1:3] Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has regenerated us unto a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, [2 Pet. 1:4] … that through these you might become partakers of the divine nature,

[Rom.8:29] …He also predestinated to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the Firstborn among many brothers.

Bird’s-eye View for Prophesying, a Sample

Message 8: The Seed of David Becoming the Son of God

2021 DST 8e Musing Abstract

Message 8: Appendix

As the divine element is constituted into our humanity, we become God in life and in nature but not in the Godhead. As the human element is constituted into God, God becomes man. This is the building revealed in the New Testament.

Such a revelation should become a principle that governs our understanding of God and of God’s building. When we talk about the building up of the church or about the building up of the Body, we need to realize that this building is a constitution of the divine element into the human element and of the human element into the divine element. This building, therefore, is a constitution of the divine element and of the human element into each other. Such a constitution makes the divine element

and the human element one entity. This is the building of the church, the building of the Body of Christ.

As we work for God today, we should participate in this building. This means that our work must be part of this mutual

constitution. If our work is not related to this mutual constitution, then in the eyes of God our work is like wood, grass, and stubble (1 Cor. 3:12). But if our work is a part of this mutual constitution, God will regard our work as gold, silver, and precious

stones, which will consummate in the New Jerusalem built with gold, pearl, and precious stones (Rev. 21:2, 11, 18-21).

<Excerpts from “Life-study of 1 & 2 Samuel”, Message 31, “The Significance of the Seed of David Being Designated the Son of God”>

​

God’s intention from eternity to eternity is to make Himself us, that we might become Him in life, in nature, and in constitution (but not in the Godhead). This is actually the prophecy in 2 Samuel 7 concerning the seed of David who is called the Son of God. He is divine as well as human; He is human as well as divine. He, the firstborn Son of God, is our elder Brother, and we, His many brothers, are the many sons of God. In God’s dynamic salvation there is no need for us to adjust ourselves or improve ourselves. What we need is for this One to be wrought into us through the metabolic process of transformation. Through this process He will move in us and gradually transform us into His image (2 Cor. 3:18) until we are fully the same as He in life, in nature, and in constitution. This is God’s salvation, and this is the revelation in the Bible.

<Excerpts from “Life-study of 1 & 2 Samuel”, Message 27, “A Prophecy Concerning the Seed of David Being Called the Son of God”>

2021 DST 8e

God’s eternal economy: God became a man, so that man may become God in life, in nature, and in constitution (but not in the Godhead).